Review: Across the Universe
by TakeMeOrLeaveMe2010
Summary: My humble thoughts on this movie. You don't have to review if you don't want to, and please, no flames! I'm a tad critical!


**Lol. I don't know why I felt like writing this, but I did.**

**You can review if you want, not necessary though.**

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_Across the Universe_, directed by Julie Taymor, mastermind of Broadway's visionary spectacular _The Lion King_, may fall short of perfection, but you will still be watching it with a smile on your face.

The story follows young Englishman Jude Feeney (the perfectly cast Jim Sturgess) who jumps ship to America to find his father, who left his mother in England after impregnating her. He searches for his father at Princeton University, where he stumbles into bad boy Max Carrigan (Joe Anderson). After a brief reunion with his father, he accidentally meets up with Max again, and two quickly become friends. Max invites Jude back to his sweet, suburban home for Thanksgiving, to which he obliges.

When they arrive home, Max introduces Jude to his beautiful younger sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The two eye each other longingly, despite both of them already being devoted to someone else ("She's got a boyfriend," Max tells him warningly. Jude shrugs and replies "That's okay, I've got a girlfriend."), but those plans are put on hold as Max drops out of college, much to the dismay of his conventional parents, and he and Jude go to New York.

They move into a tenant house run by a seductive, striking singer named Sadie (the amazing Dana Fuchs). They quickly befriend her and the other tenants JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy) and Prudence (T.V. Carpio). Life seems good until Lucy comes to live with Max ("for the summer" she says, though she stays much longer), bringing the dreaded draft letter for him with her. This causes much disruption in the little family, as Lucy becomes involved with the war protests, Max is shipped off to lose his mind in the Vietnam War, and Jude can't seem to stay happy with Lucy.

Visually, the movie is absolutely stunning. Taymor uses her boundlessly creative mind and sets the mood perfectly with bright, vibrant colors. All of the scenes were gorgeous, but the one that sticks out to me every time is "Strawberry Fields Forever." At this point in the story, Max is losing his sanity as the war rages on and Jude is having an artistic breakdown as his world comes crumbling down. He destroys his artwork by throwing deep, scarlet strawberries all over it, which ties into all the devastation Max experiences in Vietnam.

The movie would still be alright even if the acting was terrible, due to all the visuals and the toe-tapping music that we have loved for generations. Sturgess and Wood have a decent chemistry, and girls all over the world are sure to swoon over Sturgess' velvety, accented voice and good looks. He is a fantastic Jude, finding the right moments to be endearing and when to be sorrowful. Wood isn't as convincing as a dedicated radical as she should be. She does better in the earlier emotional scenes, as she desperately tries to convince Jude to become radical himself. "We're in the middle of a revolution, Jude, and what are you doing? Doodles and cartoons?" When he insists that there's no use trying to protest against something that's out of their control, she holds her head defiantly and says "Well, maybe when bombs start going off here, people will listen."

The best actor of the principal cast is definitely Anderson. He provides most of the comic relief in the beginning half of the movie, smiling deviously at the camera as he encounters ridiculous situations or spouting sarcastic remarks as he watches his baby sister fall head over heels for his best friend. But Anderson truly shows his acting chops in the latter half of the movie, taking a startling turn as Max returns to the United States, wounded physically and mentally from the war. The contrast between the playful, laid-back Max in the beginning and the broken, lost Max we see in the hospital and even out of the hospital is jarring, almost disturbing. Even in the end, when slowly some of that former Max returns, most of his humor is darker or more subdued than the original Max, which is heartbreaking to watch.

The best singers are Fuchs and McCoy. Their covers of some of the less-known Beatles songs are electrifying, and sure to send chills down your spine. Fuchs does a good earthy, almost motherly like Sadie when the character is watching over her tenants, and a fiery, Joplin-esque Sadie when she hits the stage. And McCoy makes the best with what little screen time he has to be the faithful, strong JoJo.

It's the thin plot which bogs down the movie. The beginning half is truly the best part. It's fast-paced, energized, and bursting with color. Ironically, as soon as Max leaves for Vietnam, the movie comes to a halting stop and carries on the rest of the time at a painfully slow pace. At this point, most of the cast and their problems are pushed into the background as the movie forces the audience to be concerned with Lucy and Jude's rapidly evaporating relationship. It has many intertwining plot lines that are supposedly tied up in the end but you feel as though they were rushed to get to the big reunion scene for our two star-crossed lovers.

Which is alright, I guess. It _is_ first and foremost a musical romance movie. However, you wonder why Lucy was a radical other than to have the plot line suggest she is cheating on Jude with the leader of the radicals (she doesn't convince you otherwise). You wonder how Sadie and JoJo get back together, with one moment them being lost and depressed, and the next on a rooftop singing about how much they love each other. But most of all you wonder why the character of Prudence even exists.

Yes, she holds some importance, a symbol of the sexual revolution of the time. The character is either bisexual or lesbian (not made completely clear which it was), as Carpio croons a slower, more melancholy version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to a blonde cheerleader. However, as soon as she arrives swiftly through the bathroom window, her character disappears into more than just the background. More like the walls themselves. Oh, she appears every now and then, one time to add another voice to a whole group ballad or another time to give Max, Lucy, Jude, and Sadie a reason to sing "Dear Prudence." That particular cover is done well, but as soon as her friends coax her out of the closet, she vanishes into a sea of protesters, not to be seen again for at least another half hour. Which is disappointing, because Carpio is wonderful as the shy, lost character and her unique voice is easy on the ears.

And then there's the big issue of messing with some of the most classic songs in musical history. For the most part, the covers of the songs succeed. The best ones are done by star cameos, from Joe Cocker's raw and edgy "Come Together" to Bono's psychedelic roller-coaster ride of "I Am the Walrus" to Carol Wood's and Timothy McCutchum's powerful gospel version of "Let it Be" that tears your heart out. Sturgess' voice suits the songs he sings as his voice is similar to Paul McCartney's. After finding out he was not a trained singer, I was surprised and impressed by Anderson's pipes, particularly in the difficult "Happiness is a Warm Gun", as the song jumps from a harmonious bass to a howling tenor. And the contrast between Wood's pristine, controlled voice that tenderly sings a melodic "If I Fell" and Fuch's throaty, raspy voice that belts a manic "Helter Skelter" works well.

The only cover that truly fell flat for me was "Being for the Benefit for Mr. Kite." While it is one of the most cleverly done scenes in the movie, there is absolutely no reason for it, which doesn't make sense in a movie that is channeled by its songs. Eddie Izzard speaks the lines instead of singing them, which is okay, I guess. It was too out of place and pointless for me to like it. I give Izzard props for mixing the lyrics with his own improvisation, however, this was my least favorite song in the movie.

What makes the music work is Taymor's decision not to try and imitate the Beatles. She knows that no matter how close you get, you will always be one step behind the Fab Four. So, it's more of an homage than an attempt to duplicate, which is incredibly smart on her part. Some of the songs are slowed down, such as "If I Fell" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand", others have different meaning, such as "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" being changed from a lustful, longing tune to a hugely orchestrated, soulful song as Max faces the draft. Some songs have the unmistakable instrumentations, such as the memorable bass line in "Come Together" or the dum-dum-da-da-dum in "All You Need is Love," others have their own different twists, such as the haunting and almost completely acapella "Because" and the mix of originals and covers in the playful "With a Little Help From My Friends."

Overall, the music is really what fuels this movie. Without it, it would have been disastrous. But even so, casting relatively undiscovered actors as the leads brings a sincerity to this movie that would definitely not have been there if you would have cast, say, Orlando Bloom as Jude and Hilary Duff as Lucy (odd pairing, I know.) And most of the actors are not just actors who sing or singers who act. They are actors _and_ singers.

So, in conclusion, to like _Across the Universe,_ all you need is love (dum-dum-da-da-dum).

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**Yeah, I know. I wanted to make it a critical review. **

**I really do love this movie. Do I think it's the best movie ever made? No. But that's not the point.**


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